Main menu

Post navigation

Going a nautical mile for fun in Southampton!

With approximately five weeks before the start of our Drag Stars at Sea: Europe Allstars there is a lot to be done and planned before our cruisers begin their amazing journey. Each of our destinations within Europe has an overabundance of great activities and sights to take in before people are whisked off to the next leg of their adventure. This article is here to condense some of the information so that you, the ever busy traveler, don’t have to search all over for ingenious ideas on how to spend your time! Today we stop in Southampton, England, where ships tell the tale!

The SS Shieldhall is a preserved steamship that operates from the city and is a major tourist attraction! She was built in October 1954 and weighs in at 1,972 tons! Before she was preserved for tourist purposes the boat was used a sludge boat, going regularly from Shieldhall in Glasgow, Scotland down the River Clyde to dump treated sewage sludge at sea. These types of ships regularly welcomed aboard day trippers and parties or passengers who wanted to tour the ships during these trips down river. To accommodate for this the Shieldhall was given open-crank engines which allow passengers to see all of the inner workings, which according to a lot of the people who visit the ship say is really fun. Those who take the day trip these days are allowed to explore all parts of the ship and people remark all the time just how friendly and welcoming all of the crew on board are. From seeing the engines in action up close to going to the bridge and talking to the captain of the ship, there’s a lot of fun to be had on the SS Shieldhall!

Titanic Engineer Officers Memorial is, as the name suggests, a memorial to the 35 engineer officers who steadfastly stood at their posts as the Titanic was critically struck by an Iceberg in 1912. The monument was unveiled on a sunny day in April of 1914 where over 100,000 people gathered in remembrance of the brave souls who gave their lives to buy the fleeing passengers precious moments to safely get to their lifeboats. The statue consists of bronze and granite and features Nuke, the Greek Winged Goddess of Victory. Many people visit this memorial yearly, and those that do remark how stunning the display is in person. It serves as a haunting reminder of the tragedy that struck so close to the heart of Southampton a century ago, many of those engineers living only a few miles at most away from the monument, and reminds all who visit of the sacrifice that was made.

Southampton is a fun place to explore with a lot of emphasis on the sea and the ocean, as the above locations indicate. We too are interested in the sea! It is why we are proud to present Southampton and so many other places as part of our Drag Stars at Sea: Europe Allstars! Be sure to check out all of the great information on this exciting trip by going here.